Welsh Wittering Pt 1

OK, so I've been back a few days but it's taken me a while to get the images on the laptop (yeah, about five minutes) and then I had to be in the right frame of mind to actually write stuff... Okay, so we've been relaxing all weekend! But I'm here now and the Wales breakdown shall commence forthwith:

Day One - The Journey There:

What can you say about travelling really? Well, the New Severn Bridge was interesting and I was rather sadly thrilled by the Welsh signs having both English and, well, Welsh on them...! But overal, we simply spent far too long on the M69, M6, M42, M5 & M4... It was about a 4hr journey! D drove!

However, the cottage itself was marvelous! A three roomed (Living/Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom) two levelled building, big enough for two and far better standard than I had expected for the money! It's called Sam's Cottage and we met 'Sam', the guy who lived there as a teen and renovated the place. Very tranquil setting and although some farm buildings and a B&B house are close by, it felt secluded. Two Big Thumbs Up!

Day Two - Camarthen & Llanelli:

We forget sometimes that Sunday is still the day of rest of many folk! Working shifts over a seven day period, I personally rely on Sundays sometimes for general shopping or trips out... Not so in Wales! Well, Camarthen & Llanelli were both fairly closed although this castle-thing in Camarthen made the drive out worthwhile! It was however cold and it rained. This was to be a theme of the week!

Day Three - My Birthday:

We had found a box of flyers in the cottage, listing many attractions from the locality... One that had caught our eye particularly was The National Botanic Gardens of Wales...

We're both fairly into natural surroundings and plantlife so the NBGoW was a superb highlight of the trip! I took many many photo's and may blog more in the future... These're just a small sample.

They also have an amazing glass dome:

This housed plants from warm, though not tropical climates, such as California, The Canary Islands and Australia... It was truly stunning, reminding me of both the film Silent Running and one of the ships in Battlestar Galactica... In fact, at a push, it would also represent a Holodeck from Star Trek? Awesome!

A gallery of art made out of waste, especially lager cans, was also on site and although it causes no end of headaches in real life, this fictional image of an MRSA bug was rather amusing

Day Four - CAT:

The Centre for Alternative Technology was a complete washout... It rained pretty persistantly though we avoided allowing this to dampen our spirits entirely and enjoyed a thought provoking visit... Living near Leicesters Eco-House, it was amazing to see how creative environmentally friendly living could be on a much grander scale... The centre blended with the environment totally, despite it's array of displays and felt totally in place within nature. Alas, the rain didn't encourage photography and although I had several shots of chickens and ducks on the camera, I have chosen instead to add this unique telephone box as an example of the innovation seen:

So, we've hit Tuesday in this brief rundown of the week. I did forget to mention my thanks to Auntie C & Jan55 who had both managed to get birthday greetings to us in time to be taken along on the journey... So nice to have a few extra's to open on the big day and Mum & Dad also managed to send theirs on to the cottage too! Thanks to all...

I shall add more on the holiday later today / tomorrow including more images and some rather impressive earmuffs!! For now, this first post should keep you going? Jxx